16/05/2014

Godzilla

Can Gareth Edwards and co deliver a convincing take on the most famous giant
lizard in the world?

Part of the charm of the original Godzilla
films is the fact that the monster is clearly a man in a big lizard costume
knocking over models. This wouldn’t really work on modern cinema screens so the
trick is to make us believe that we are really seeing something very large and
very dangerous rampaging around the city. In that respect Gareth Edwards’ new
version succeeds. Over two hours he employs a dazzling variety of visuals
to bring us close up into the action. While some have complained about the
relative scarcity of full scale appearances from the beast itself this is the
film’s biggest asset because it builds and builds tantalising us with glimpses
and distant sightings before revealing an awesomely realised Godzilla.

"I'm not entirely sure that I am the danger now"

In
1999 American scientist Joe Brody (same surname as Jaws’ lead character -
probably not a coincidence) is running the Janjira nuclear plant in Japan when
something stirs underground triggering a series of events that leaves the
facility destroyed and his wife dead. Fifteen years later we find Brody living
in a down at heal apartment whose walls are plastered with newspaper cuttings
and statistics related to the disaster as he desperately tries to discover the
truth that he believes the authorities are hiding. His arrest when trespassing
on the out of bounds remains of the site lead to his son Ford -who as a
child witnessed the events from a distance and is now a soldier- coming to bail
him out.
In his first post Breaking Bad outing
Bryan Cranston adds a vital urgency to Brody’s crusade with Aaron Taylor
Johnson able to convey Ford’s refusal to confront the past despite not getting
enough dialogue. The two work well together so it is a surprise when Brody
senior is killed during a sequence as another monster buried beneath the same
site awakens. It’s a terrific introduction to what the military call a MUTO,
and which resembles a sort of giant pterodactyl. Cast adrift without his
father, Johnson’s character suffers somewhat from being similarly abandoned so
that he is one of a number of interchangeable soldiers and scientists who do
battle with what turns out to be a trio of threats.
The film has a fantastic sense of scale and its impressive how Gareth Edwards
and his team marshal what could easily become an unlikely scenario. What
transpires- rather than the expected Godzilla storming the city- is that humans
are merely in the way as the lizard battles a male and female MUTO across the
world.

Possibly
aware that we might be suffering from collapsing building fatigue after a slew
of superhero smack downs, Edwards shrouds these situations in dust and
interesting light. We view the ferocious creatures from any number of angles
and there are several spine chilling situations. At one point Ford is lying on
a vulnerable railway bridge as the MUTO moves beneath it; another time Godzilla’s
head appears through clouds of dust. Busy cameras capture the momentum of the
destruction with a randomness so a flick of a tail or a stray claw causes
mayhem for the little people below. Sometimes Edwards cameras are still as Godzilla
approaches underwater- the temptation to duck from the safety of our seats is
nearly irresistible. One aspect that is particularly effective is the sound
effects with Godzilla’s roar making the seats shake!
The trail of destruction seems to mirror very well -known recent events whether
the Philippines Tsunami, Fukushima nuclear disaster or 9/11. During the many
sequences of devastation our view is from the ground, how people would see it.
The allusion to real events is inherent in the script through the use of the
1940s nuclear explosions, cleverly re-edited to show the bombs were actually
dropped to kill Godzilla. The monsters themselves could be seen as allegories
for global warming and our technologically advanced society’s inability to stop
forces of nature. Near the climax an analogue bomb even has to be used.
The original films were partly made by Japan in response to events like
Hiroshima but here Max Borenstein’s screenplay hedges around the issue because
while nuclear weapons feed the MUTOs they also seem capable of destroying them.
Is the film therefore suggesting that they are a good and a bad thing?
Inevitably the characters become overwhelmed by the action though there is some
effort to keep them in the picture with grim pronouncements from experts and
stoic decisions by the military but all of these are more expositional than
emotional. Ford’s wife Elle keeps us in touch with the human side at first
though being a nurse you’d imagine the script might have her do something more
dramatic than shelter with everyone else. Elisabeth Olsen might feel a little
short changed by the last half hour; in fact unless you count Mrs MUTO this is
a very male film which seems slightly old fashioned. There is also an enormous
amount of plot contrivance to ferry Ford around the world to manoeuvre him to
critical place. Perhaps what would work better would have been to have
established a group of soldiers whose activities we could follow in different
places. Ford Brody is not a superhero but by the end of the film, despite the
efforts of others, he seems to have played an unfeasibly large role in sorting
out the whole thing. In that respect it’s a shame he doesn’t have more to say
for himself; the unruly maverick is something of a stock disaster film motif
but would actually have suited this movie rather well.
There is no denying that this latest Godzilla
manages to create a powerful stew of impending doom and chaos that looks
amazing which is exactly what you want from a big 3D film!